According to Variety, Warner Bros. has hired Phil Joanou (upcoming Gridiron Gang) to direct its remake of cop actioner Sharky's Machine and set it up with Basil Iwanyk's Thunder Road to produce.

The film is a potential starring vehicle for Mark Wahlberg, who is executive producing with Stephen Levinson for Leverage Management.

Burt Reynolds directed and toplined the 1981 Warners film, based on the novel by William Diehl.

The new version will vary in places from the original and likely won't be set in Atlanta. The story revolves around a tough homicide cop who is demoted to the lowest of the low, the morals squad. He rallies together a ragtag group of cops who successfully take down a man who rigs elections.

Jerry Stahl wrote the script. Screenwriters Doug Miro and Carlos Bernard have done a rewrite